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| Class 3 UCLA Meteorology, 30 Nov 1942 |
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| Front: Hall, Irving, Roberts, Garcia, Ezzell, Hardin, Payton. Rear: Kelliher, Scarbrough, Westfall, Horak, Gorman. |
Monday, May 30, 2011
Memorial Day, Part 2
At the back of the first volume of photographs, there are two of Air Force Meteorology personnel. One is of Henry's graduating class from the UCLA meteorology program.
The other is of the weather personnel at Grafton-Underwood in Det. 106 of the 18th Weather Squadron.
Memorial Day
After a long hiatus, I'm back to digitizing Capt. Henry Horak's 384th Bomber Group photos. Here's a group of strike photos from the 2nd Schweinfurt raid, 14/10/43.
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| Labeled SAV-384/93-1 through 4, 30026-8-22000 |
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| SAV-384/93-9 through 12 |
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| SAV-384/93-13 through 16 |
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| SAV-384/93-17 through 20 |
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| SAV-384/93-21 through 24 |
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| SAV-384/93-25 through 27 |
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| 1st Schweinfurt Raid, photo of 4 aircraft from the 303rd BG over Huls, Germany |
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| 1st Schweinfurt, 17/8/43 |
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| 1st Schweinfurt, 17/8/43 |
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| 1st Schweinfurt, 17/8/43. Bottom right: Flak, 25/9/43 |
Saturday, August 21, 2010
1st Schweinfurt Raid
I'll have to be careful with the archive--it's not in chronological order. After several pages of small 4x4" strike photos from the October 14 raid, I discovered that on 17 August 1943 the 384th bombed the ball-bearing plant at Schweinfurt for the first time. Capt. Horak's collection contains numerous strike photos, including this large 9x9" one. (It's slightly clipped on the right side due to scan bed limitations.)
As before, Henry also has the formation diagram, shown above. Planes piloted by Wilson, Hausenfluck, Sweningsen, Mattes, and Wofford were lost. The summary report on the action is also included. It has a quoted bombardier's statement from Lt. Baggs.
Interesting to note that it took almost 5 hours to fly to the target and less than 3 to return. Faster airspeed without ordinance? Early evidence of the jet stream? More direct route home? For more info see the 384th website for this mission.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The 384th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force
This is a record of the 384th Bombardment Group based on records from my father, Capt. Henry G. Horak(ret) of the 106th Weather Squadron. As I am able, I'll be posting scans and digitized images from his two volumes of photos and records along with those stories that my brothers and I can pull together.
N.B.: Clicking on an image will bring up the full-sized photo or scan. Higher resolution images are available to any who are interested. Please contact the blogger.
Henry is now 91 and his memory of those days is not so sharp, but he still tells tales of the sacrifice made by the brave crewmen flying their B-17s over Germany in daylight bombing raids.
The major sources of material are two bound scrapbook volumes measuring 11x14 inches. The cover plus first four pages are very powerful, summarizing the October 14, 1943 raid on Schweinfurt. Only one aircraft of the 19 that were airborne returned to base. Recall that each B-17 carried a crew of ten. Only ten of 190 men who made it to the target landed at Grafton-Underwood after that raid.
Without further adieu, here is the beginning of the story... from a war so long ago.
A deceptively peaceful cover of the photo album. There is no indication of where or when Henry obtained it.
The title page of the first volume showing the "Keep the Show on the Road" logo of the 384th Bombardment Group. Two Eighth Airforce patches and a paper logo hand labeled "WEATHER." Below that is "18th WX. SQDN." and "DETACH. 106."
The frontspiece, labeled "Contrails." No doubt a B-17 formation but no date information is given.
The mission summary. "19 airborne, 6 returned early, 3 landed other fields, 3 crashed over England after bailing out (on return). 6 missing. Only 1 aircraft ret. to base." Only ten men who saw the target slept in their own bunks that night. Probably 60 lives were lost. (For more details, see the 384th mission summaries.)
The formation sheet. Planes piloted by Ogilvie, Kopf, Kauffman, Harry, Keller, and Williams were lost. No idea of how many bailed out or who the crewmen were.
Henry told me once that of the 640 aircrew (64 original aircraft) with him at Grafton-Underwood, about three dozen survived the war as POWs and a handful who bailed out made it home with help from the resistance. A couple planes flew 25 missions and their crews went home. But nearly 600 men perished on these daylight missions. Words fail me....
N.B.: Clicking on an image will bring up the full-sized photo or scan. Higher resolution images are available to any who are interested. Please contact the blogger.
Henry is now 91 and his memory of those days is not so sharp, but he still tells tales of the sacrifice made by the brave crewmen flying their B-17s over Germany in daylight bombing raids.
The major sources of material are two bound scrapbook volumes measuring 11x14 inches. The cover plus first four pages are very powerful, summarizing the October 14, 1943 raid on Schweinfurt. Only one aircraft of the 19 that were airborne returned to base. Recall that each B-17 carried a crew of ten. Only ten of 190 men who made it to the target landed at Grafton-Underwood after that raid.
Without further adieu, here is the beginning of the story... from a war so long ago.
Henry told me once that of the 640 aircrew (64 original aircraft) with him at Grafton-Underwood, about three dozen survived the war as POWs and a handful who bailed out made it home with help from the resistance. A couple planes flew 25 missions and their crews went home. But nearly 600 men perished on these daylight missions. Words fail me....
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